Verna
Feminine · “springlike (Latin)”
Verna is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 69,113 girls against 525 boys since 1880. See Verna as a boy name
Verna is a short, firm name with a Latin look, two syllables that start like vernal and end in a plain a. Two of its bearers left work that children still meet: Verna Felton, the voice of Cinderella's Fairy Godmother, and Verna Aardema, whose retelling of a West African tale won the Caldecott Medal for its illustrators.
How old is the name Verna?
Verna was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Verna alive today was born around 1927, making them about 98 years old. About 19,000 people named Verna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Verna most popular?
Verna peaked in 1906, reaching #117 nationally. Today it ranks #3459, 3,342 places below that high. See the whole 1906 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Verna
Verna appears in American records as a finished name, without a single European source standing plainly behind it. Verna Felton, an actress since childhood, became one of Disney's most familiar voices: the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland and the good fairy Flora in Sleeping Beauty. Verna Aardema, a writer from Michigan, retold African folktales for children, and her Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon, won the Caldecott Medal in 1976.
Meaningscholars disagree
springlike (Latin), or a short form of Laverne
Two readings compete. Verna is the feminine of the Latin adjective vernus, 'of spring,' the root of English vernal; it has also been used as a short form of Laverne or Laverna, and as a feminine partner to Vernon. The record does not say which road any single family took.
Pronouncing Verna
VUR-nuh
Two syllables, stress on the first, which rhymes with fern.
Nicknames for Verna
Limited
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 19181,873 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #117reached in 1906
- Change vs 2022
- +15.8%44 in 2025, from 38
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Verna in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York.
Vernas among us
people named Verna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 36,529 born in 2025 was named Verna
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Verna sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Verna is headed
Verna should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Verna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Verna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short, spelled as it sounds, and hard to get wrong.
- Two namesakes whose work is still in front of children.
- Shares its opening with vernal, the English word for things of spring.
- It is best known among women born long ago, so it reads as an old-fashioned name.
- Its meaning is contested, so anyone who asks will get two answers rather than one.
- A few boys are recorded with it; the final a marks it as feminine in English, so a boy called Verna will be read as a girl on paper.
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Verna
Feminine · #3459 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Vernas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 19,000 people named Verna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Verna in 2025?
- Verna ranks #3459 among US girl names in 2025, with 44 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Verna?
- About 1 in every 36,529 US girls born in 2025 was named Verna — 44 in all.
- Will my child share the name Verna with classmates?
- Verna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Verna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Janey#3459 · Devon#3459 · Nitya#3459 · Zayah#3459 · Lively#3459 · Kynsley#3459 · Anaiya#3459 · Ena#3459
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Verna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Verna and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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